Prince Avenue Surgery Also known as Dr Sooriakumaran & Dr Santhakumar

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

At our last assessment in 2015, we rated this key question as Good. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.

People’s care, treatment and support promoted equality and removed barriers or delays. Leaders and staff had proactively sought ways to address barriers to improve people’s experience, acted on information about people's experiences and outcomes, and allocated resources and opportunities, to achieve equity

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service made sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs.

Care plans reflected physical, mental, emotional, and social needs of patients including those related to protected characteristics under the Equality Act. This was reinforced by staff’s compassionate approach, where people reported feeling listened to and involved in decisions. Staff made reasonable adjustments, such as providing longer appointments, interpreting services and private consultation spaces for people who were distressed or needed to discuss sensitive matters.

Administrative staff used digital flags to highlight communication needs or additional support requirements, ensuring that from first contact, people received appropriate adjustments. The approach was consistent with the service’s strong culture of personalised care.

The service understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

The practice worked effectively in partnership with local services to deliver coordinated care tailored to community and patient needs.

The service supplied accessible, appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

Information to promote the take up of screening, long-term condition management and immunisation programmes was available in a range of languages. The practice had access to interpreter services, including British Sign Language. Information provided by the service met the Accessible Information Standard. Staff actively supported people to understand their care, including through the use of clear explanations and opportunities to ask questions. Patients were informed how to access and interpret their healthcare records, which supported shared decision-making.

The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. The practice encouraged and acted on feedback from people using the service. Complaints were handled in line with policy and used as an opportunity for learning, consistent with the team’s strong learning culture. Staff were able to identify changes made as a result of patient feedback.

People could access care, treatment and support when they needed to and in a way that worked for them, which was reinforced by a clear and effective approach to managing appointments.

Results from the most recent national GP Patient Survey, conducted between 30 December 2024 and 1 April 2025 showed that 73% of people responded positively to how easy it was to contact their GP practice on the phone, compared to the national average of 52.9%. In addition, 77.5% of people responded positively to the overall experience of contacting their GP practice, compared to the national average of 69.6%.

The practice had also carried out their own additional patient surveys following the national GP Patient Survey, asking for more detailed information and as a result they were able to implement some specific improvements.

The appointment system supported online, telephone and in‑person contact. Staff assisted individuals unable to complete online forms, reducing digital exclusion.

Reception staff had received care navigation training. Systems were in place to recall and invite patients for childhood immunisations and cervical cancer screening.

Treatment rooms were available on the ground floor and the practice had recently improved access by adding an additional treatment room to enable more and varied appointments to be offered, which increased capacity. The additional treatment room had enabled the practice to offer phlebotomy clinics on site. This gave people timely access to appointments and cancelled the need for additional travel. Leaders told us that this had achieved positive outcomes for patients, including reduced waiting time for phlebotomy appointments and the associated results. It had also reduced number of patients not attending required appointments, thus preventing any breaks in their ongoing treatment.

The practice offered telephone, online, and face-to-face appointments. People could also access extended hours appointments through the Primary Care Network, providing flexibility for those who needed to be seen outside of the service’s usual working hours e.g. work commitments, caring responsibilities or mobility challenges.

In addition to being a Greener Practice and a Safe Surgery, the practice was accredited as Veteran Friendly, Dementia Friendly, and a Disability Confident Employer, reflecting its commitment to inclusive and equitable access.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who were most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this. Population health challenges such as vaccine hesitancy and lower screening uptake were met with targeted interventions, including personalised follow‑up calls and outreach by administrative staff.

Feedback provided by people using the service, both to the provider as well as to CQC, was positive. Staff treated people equally and without discrimination. Leaders proactively sought ways to address any barriers to improving people’s experience and worked with local organisations, including within the voluntary sector, to address any local health inequalities.

Staff understood the importance of providing an inclusive approach to care and made adjustments to support equity in people’s experience and outcomes.

The service ensured people facing social exclusion, such as those who were homeless or travellers, could register and access healthcare without discrimination. Interpreter services and alternative communication channels enabled equitable engagement from people who did not speak English as a first language or lacked digital access.

The most recent national GP Patient Survey, (30 December 2024 – 1 April 2025), found that 77.5% of respondents described their overall experience of contacting their GP practice as positive, compared with the national average of 69.6%. The percentage of respondents to the GP Patient Survey who responded positively to how easy it was to contact their GP practice on the phone in the same survey was 73% compared to the national average of 52.9%.

People were supported to plan for important life changes, so they could have enough time to make informed decisions about their future, including end of life care.